Silver Fern Farms chief executive Simon Limmer and PM Jacinda Ardern in New York to launch carbon zero beef. Photo / Supplied
OPINION:
Jacinda Ardern promised she would be "shameless" when it came to promoting New Zealand on the Late Show during the US business mission she led there earlier this year.
And so she was.
When the prime minister gave Late Show host Stephen Colbert a chilly bin full of New Zealand beef there was initially some cultural confusion.
Ardern said she had brought an esky or chilly bin of New Zealand beef from a Silver Ferns Farm launch of its Zero Carbon beef. Colbert asked what a chilly bin was — the American term is a "cooler".
Ardern replied that it was self-explanatory: "It's a chilly bin, so it's a bin that is cold. I've brought you a cold bin of beef."
Cue laughter.
She also used her Late Show appearance — her fourth on the show — to ask Colbert to attend her wedding via an "invitation" written on an advertisement for Air New Zealand's new direct flights between New York and Auckland, which begin on September 17.
Much of her appearance was focused on the issue du jour — a school shooting in Texas — which gave Ardern the opportunity to talk about the gun laws she introduced in New Zealand after 51 people were killed in the 2019 Christchurch mosque terrorist attack.
But having a prime minister spruik New Zealand's Net Carbon Zero beef to an American audience topping 2 million viewers was definitely a plus for Silver Fern Farms.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Simon Limmer used an earlier launch event in New York to showcase and promote the new Net Carbon Zero Beef product which had recently launched in the US market.
Having the Prime Minister launch Net Carbon Zero in New York exposed our brand and our product to a much wider audience than we would have otherwise been able to achieve on our own," says Limmer. "The US is a key market for conscious consumers attracted to the likes of Net Carbon Zero products, and we're seeing good demand since the launch earlier in the year.
The company says its innovative product meets environmental and consumer demand by utilising "insetting" where the carbon credits are found by working with farmers and how they operate.
Limmer adds: At our Annual Farmer Conference last month, we announced that we are scaling up Net Carbon Zero beef production, have plans to expand to Net Carbon Zero lamb, and we've increased our payment to our farmers who are supplying the programme.
Silver Fern Farms — a partnership between Silver Fern Farms Co-operative and Shanghai Maling — is a leading New Zealand processor, marketer and exporter of premium quality lamb, beef, and venison which is well-positioned to champion NZ's natural grass-fed red meat at a time when there is a consumer trend to whole natural foods.
When it comes to opening doors for NZ business, it has been a banner year for Ardern.
After two years of multiple lockdowns and tough border restrictions, there has been a strong appetite from NZ businesses to "get out into the world" again, renew contacts and leverage the prime minister's profile to promote their companies.
She has led missions to Singapore and Japan, the United States, and also Australia.
Officials' talks are underway to see if a visit to China can be squeezed in during late 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of relations between the People's Republic of China and New Zealand. New Zealand's key agribusinesses have been represented on various missions, along with tech companies, tourism players and even fashion designers.
"It's not always that easy to find a spare week for a trip like this but I can see how valuable it is to show that New Zealand is fully back open for business and the innovation of some of our more traditional industries alongside great startups and tech businesses who are out there leading the way," says Fonterra's Mike Cronin who joined the US mission.
"Getting to know these talented people and what they're capable of reminded me that there's no need to hold back as the talent, resources and attitudes from New Zealand mean we can come to the table with global partners on an equal footing."
These missions have also had a strong political component.
An NZ-Singapore climate collaboration has been formed for low emissions long-haul flights and shipping.
Security ties with Japan have been strengthened in the face of "unprecedented challenges" through a plan to share more classified information on international issues.
In Australia, Ardern secured an agreement from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to streamline the pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders living in Australia by Anzac Day next year.
Ardern's meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House was clearly the political centrepiece of her US mission.
Just days earlier she had joined leaders from 12 other Indo-Pacific countries (there are now 15) in announcing talks toward negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).
The IPEF has been spearheaded by the United States and has been positioned as establishing a new economic platform for the 21st century based on democratic values, with common rules on trade and investment which stop short of further tariff reductions.
The IPEF will have four pillars: trade; supply chains, infrastructure and decarbonisation; and tax and anti-corruption.
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O'Connor has been invited to a ministerial meeting in Los Angeles in early September.
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo will host the talks. Tai's office said last week the participating countries — which between them account for about 40 per cent of global gross domestic product — will seek to "develop a high-standard and inclusive economic framework that will fuel economic growth and benefits workers and consumers across the region."
They hope to have the rules in place by the end of 2023 when the United States hosts the Apec Leaders Meeting.
Ardern has logged thousands of kilometres this year. On her watch as prime minister, New Zealand has inked free trade agreements with the United Kingdom and the European Union.
New Zealand trade experts have welcomed the former. But there has been a disappointment in the outcomes achieved for beef and dairy exporters in the EU deal, outlined in the Herald's report.
The failure of the Trump Administration to move to secure the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a disappointment for NZ's agricultural exporters. The US is New Zealand's third-largest market. The then-TPP did not result in major market access. But doors in the US would have opened further and there would have been tariff reductions. The upshot is that companies like Fonterra — the world's largest dairy exporter — have moved ahead by forming partnerships to expand their footprint.
Cronin, who is Fonterra's Managing Director of Co-operative Affairs, says a highlight for him of the US mission was the time they spent with their US-based partner VitaKey.
"This is one of a number of partnerships we are developing with inventors, entrepreneurs and academics at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Boston, who have a real affection for what we're doing here in New Zealand," he says.
"VitaKey and one of its founders, Bob Langer, who also started up the biotech company Moderna have proven technology for precision delivery of nutrients which is already unlocking new ways to add value to our dairy nutrition components in our global markets.
"It was one of the first face-to-face encounters with VitaKey and it was great to be able to share that with Minister O'Connor and New Zealand business colleagues".
Fonterra has more than 10 partnerships in the US, including with Motif FoodWorks and Land O'Lakes.
Both Fonterra (and A2 Milk) have wanted to export infant formula supplies to the US after a fatal food safety scare closed formula manufacturer Abbott — one of four companies that between them control 90 per cent of the US market.
Fonterra produces finished infant formula for sale in New Zealand and in some export markets. But the US is not one of them, due to market barriers.
O'Connor recently tweeted: "Disappointing news during a shortage of infant formula.
Would be great to be able to provide our nutritious products for families in the US market."
Other agribusiness exporters to take part in the US mission include Zespri International and New Zealand Merino.
The US mission also had an investment focus, with visits to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft which are both making multibillion-dollar investments in NZ data centres.'
A recent stocktake — The NZ-US trade relationship: Stability and diversity in a time of change — commissioned jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the NZ US Council looks at how the relationship has grown steadily over the past 15 years.
Goods and services trade expanded by an average of more than 5 per cent per year between 2007 and 2019, with services trade showing an impressive average growth of almost 8 per cent per year. The report effectively demonstrates the breadth, increasing diversity and vibrant and innovative nature of the commercial relationships NZ shares with the US.
Key points from the report:
• New Zealand's export profile is becoming more diversified: services trade has become more important.
• Traditional pastoral goods exports are changing in nature and being supplemented with horticultural products.
• Innovative, high-tech manufactured goods and services are supporting US firms' productivity.
• New Zealand exporters are responding to US consumer demands for quality healthcare, medical and lifestyle products.
OPINION: Tensions are likely to become more evident next year.